I really don't want to be the one to tell everyone that the new DAWNBRINGER album is not something that will impress very many people. But sadly, I was in fact, really looking forward to this new release from DAWNBRINGER because I still go back to their 2010 release "Nucleus" whenever I want to listen to some high-quality heavy metal that was invulnerable to genre classification.

"Nucleus" was a huge triumph for DAWNBRINGER. Every single song on that record came alive as soon as it started playing. It was easily one of my favorite albums of that year. Subsequently, 2012's "Into the Lair of the Sun God" was another successful release from the band, picking up exactly where they left off on "Nucleus". It seemed, to me at least, like DAWNBRINGER was on a roll and would continue to pump out impressive album after impressive album. Being veterans of heavy metal, I wouldn't expect anything less.

But "Night of the Hammer" is... well it's just plain embarrassing. It's embarrassing that DAWNBRINGER would go from putting out two amazing records and then taking ten steps backward. Were they exhausted with writing and recording music? Were they pressured into creating "Night of the Hammer" when they didn't feel like they couldn't replicate their recent successful releases? That's the sense I get when I listen to "Night of the Hammer": the sense that every single one of these songs were forced out of the band and they are delivered in the most hollow way possible.

There are several enjoyable tracks on "Night of the Hammer". The strongest songs on it are certainly the single track "One-Eyed Sister" which is something you should already come to expect from this outfit with these medieval folk motifs thinly layering big fat, bass driven rock music. The song "Nobody There" is also another great song with amazing, catchy guitar & bass riffs with elevating vocals. And every single guitar solo on this album is superb, even on the songs I didn't like at all. They always know how to pull off a wonderful shredding solo that sound rejuvenating and creative. One of the biggest reasons that I love DAWNBRINGER is their monumentally strong lead guitar section and it was great to hear that coming back for "Night of the Hammer".

And there were several songs that I liked but still had trouble enjoying them entirely. "Not Your Night" is a song that shows DAWNBRINGER playing around with a black metal compositional style which works fantastically well but only with the instrumentation. The vocals, completely overwhelmed by the drums and rapid guitar strumming, end up undermining the song's quality.

And the song "Hands of Death" is a very simple metal song that certainly sounds like it could've been written during the early 1980's and in that case, the song would've been passable. The duelling guitar leads as well as the three guitar solos really make this song stand out but the verse riff along with the watered-down vocal melodies make this song far too diluted for it to have any punch or bite. It frustrates me that they spent a lot of time perfecting this sub-par song when if you listen to such tracks from "Nucleus" like "The Devil" or "All I See" which are so infectious and enjoyable, you can start to see the major flaws of this record by that comparison.

"Alien", "The Burning of Home", "Damn You", "Funeral Child", and especially "Xiphias" are all completely unmemorable and just plain don't sound good at all. You know that DAWNBRINGER were really stretching themselves too thin to make a song like "Funeral Child" with KING DIAMOND-style vocals. There is only one person on this planet that is allowed to sing like KING DIAMOND and that's Kim Bendix Peterson, also known as KING FUCKING DIAMOND. All other musicians that try to clone his high-pitched wailing end up looking stupid and unoriginal like DAWNBRINGER vocalist Chris Black does with this song. No amount of awesome guitar licks and lead guitars can make up for that.

I also really cannot stand listening to the Dungeons & Dragons themed song "Xiphias". The vocals grate against my patience like someone rubbing a shark's skin in the wrong way. The major scale riff progressions just sound dumb and goofy. This is not the DAWNBRINGER I have grown on! What the hell were you thinking?

I love DAWNBRINGER and I will continue to love this band but don't expect me to come running out to defend "Night of the Hammer" because this album was a huge flop and I was extremely disappointed by it.